=Part Twenty-Nine
Pterano jumped in surprise, which only resulted in more pain from his gimp foot and back. He slumped back against the cave wall once he’d seen who it was and fought to regain his breath and some semblance of balance. “Littlefoot,” he said, voice low. “You’re supposed to be asleep.”
The longneck gave him a funny look. “Well, aren’t you, too?”
Pterano glowered and turned his head away. “I couldn’t settle, and my back was hurting.”
“I’m pretty sure it only hurts if you move,” Littlefoot countered, respectfully. “Are you okay?”
Pterano turned back to face the youngster, his crested head lowered in what seemed like defeat. “No,”
Littlefoot’s features transformed with concern. “Maybe it would help if you sit down. Here, that wall will help.”
Pterano complied, slowly sliding down the wall until he was seated. The pain had since lessened, but there were still sharp barbs along his spine to serve as remembrance of that afternoon.
“Better?”
The big flyer nodded slightly. “For now,”
“Pterano, can I ask you something?”
The flyer hesitated. What number of things could come out of this young one’s mouth? Surely by now they must know of his past and the horrible mistake. Surely by now they must hate him with a fiery passion. Yet when Pterano finally met Littlefoot’s eyes, there was no hate concealed there, only curiosity. Right now, he couldn’t be sure which was worse. Finally, he replied, “You may,”
“Did you come across any longnecks out there? Any that looked like me?”
Pterano nearly laughed with relief. He needn’t have been so suspicious! Littlefoot only wanted to knowó
“And well, I guess I have another question for you. Sorry.”
Well, drat.[\i] Pterano cleared his throat. “Let’s focus on the first question, shall we? No, I have not seen those particular longnecks. I have seen many longnecks, though, so I suppose I could have overlooked them.” He raised a brow. “Why do you ask?”
Littlefoot seems to forget that he had another question because he shrugged. “Well, I was hoping you’d seen a friend of mine. Her name’s Ali. Her herd came through here a cold time ago and well, I was just curious. I know that they’re Far-Walkers though.”
Pterano almost smiled. “I will certainly keep my eye out for her when I get back to the herd.”
Littlefoot grinned. “Thanks. Could you tell her, well if you see her, that we say hi?”
“Certainly,”
That seemed to appease the longneck and there was silence for a moment until Littlefoot asked, “Can I ask you my second question?”
Do I want to hear this second question? Pterano turned a pained expression to the longneck. “Littlefoot, think carefully about what you are going to say. I have… a complicated past, which I’m sure you’re by now well aware of, so if your next question is on anything that happened, please... please don’t ask me.”
Littlefoot licked his lips. “I wasn’t going to ask that. I mean, I am curious, though. My grandparents told me some of what happened.”
“And I’m sure that that ësome’ is enough,” Pterano replied, rather sharply. “There’s no curiosity involved, my dear boy. Just a simple, stupid mistake for which I must now pay the price.” He wrapped his wings about him.
Littlefoot was quiet for a moment, as he let the flyer’s words sink in. “Can I ask you, now?”
Silence met him. He decided to continue. “Why did you come back? Didn’t you know you were coming to the Great Valley?”
“Yes, I did.” Pterano’s reply was so soft that Littlefoot almost missed it. “I thought I would be safe outside the border and I certainly never anticipated meeting up with you children along the way. I… I was only trying to help Taylen find his family again.” His voice sounded so desolate.
Littlefoot nodded back into the cave. “But you did. You really helped all three of them out.”
“And managed to muck up everything else,” came the grumbled response. “You don’t understand. None of this should have happened.” Pterano waved a claw, “I only meant to show the lad the way and then I would go.” He shifted slightly. “But fate has a funny way of working out.”
“I don’t think you messed things up,” Littlefoot was confused as to why Pterano was being so hard on himself. Was he upset about earlier, over the longneck’s stunt over the cliff?
“It’s debatable,” was the short reply. Pterano was getting annoyed. He only wanted fresh air, not a soul-search after all. But he could hardly blame Littlefoot, could he? “I mean, it’s a sort of habit. I suppose I just have that special touch.”
Littlefoot bit his lip. Pterano did have a point. “Are you talking about the Stone?”
“The Stone, the herd, here and now, everything in-between. What difference does it make?” The flyer’s voice was tired, almost weary it seemed. “I saw something I wanted, and fought for it. And in the end, I ended up hurting a lot of dinosaurs.” And then like that, his voice went soft again. “Some of them I hurt… more than others.”
Littlefoot found himself feeling sorry for the big flyer. Well, sorrier. Now that the whole Stone episode was done and over with, and things had time to heal, or at least settle, the young longneck was able to see Petrie’s mysterious uncle in a new light. He inhaled slowly, waiting for Pterano to continue, if he was indeed going to.
He didn’t have to wait long. “I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… you didn’t need to hear that.” Pterano’s voice was little more than a whisper by this point. Draped in his wings, the flyer’s eyelids drooped. He yawned and straightened. “Goodnight,” he murmured in passing.
But Littlefoot stopped him. “Wait, Pterano. I don’t think you… well, I mean you redeemed yourself, right? Back at the Valley?”
The big flyer stopped, but didn’t turn back around. Littlefoot stumbled on. “What I mean is, you did something right, and I know my grandparents believed in you.” Where was this going? How was this supposed to help? All Littlefoot knew was that he wanted to cheer Pterano up. He just had to keep fishing for something. “I believe in you. And so does Petrie. He… he’s always believed in you.”
Did that cinch it?
Pterano appeared to stiffen as a pang hit his heart. He closed his eyes, folding his talons to his chest. Petrie… “Hopefully, he will learn that not all things change... before it's too late,” came the soft, short reply. And that was that.
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